‘Stanley Johnson caused our flight to be cancelled’ – claim from passengers on BA plane diverted to Heathrow

Passengers have accused Stanley Johnson of causing the cancellation of a hijacked British Airways flight.

The writer, who is Boris Johnson’s father, was on board flight BA2641 from Malaga to London Gatwick.

When another British Airways flight refused to take off at Gatwick, the runway was closed for 50 minutes and 16 flights were diverted, including the Malaga flight.

The plan was to refuel the Airbus A321 at Heathrow and, once the runway was open again, make the short flight to Gatwick. But some passengers were eager to disembark, including Mr Johnson, passengers said.

One of them, Richard Davenport, said The Independent“The plan was to refuel and the plane was given a slot to fly to Gatwick. However, as Stanley Johnson decided he wanted to get off – with another passenger – we missed the slot.

“It took a few hours to sort out the problem and eventually BA cancelled the flight. All passengers then had to disembark and go through immigration, then take a bus to Gatwick.

“With a car parked at Gatwick, we had no option of leaving directly for Heathrow. This left a bitter taste in the mouths of 99.5% of passengers.”

At one point, airport police were called to deal with the problem, passengers say.

Another passenger, Annemarie, said The Independent:”Apparently, Stanley Johnson refused to stay on the plane, as did a terrified passenger. They were getting increasingly angry, which led to police intervention.

“It caused damage because the airline can’t force you to stay on the plane against your will. And with so many passengers wanting to get off, it would have caused hell at Heathrow, with passengers having to collect their bags, then those who wanted to go to Gatwick to maybe collect their bags and then check in again, which would have meant the crew would have no more flying hours.

“The airline has taken the decision to cancel the flight.”

A British Airways spokesperson said: “Due to earlier disruption at Gatwick, the flight was diverted to Heathrow where it terminated.”

The crew remained on board the plane, which was needed at Gatwick to transport holidaymakers to Crete. According to data from Flightradar24, the plane finally completed the 19-minute flight to Gatwick at 5:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

The plane’s scheduled flight to Heraklion has been cancelled.

Contacted for comment, Mr Johnson said: “When the plane landed at Heathrow after being diverted from Gatwick, an announcement was made to passengers inviting those who wished to do so and who did not have hold baggage to disembark at Heathrow.

“Three of us took the opportunity and headed to the front exit and waited on the steps outside the cabin to be transported to the terminal.

“For some reason the authorities were unable to arrange this! I apologize for the inconvenience, but this would not have happened if the authorities had not made a mistake in announcing the “drop off here” option without being able to deliver it. I would be very grateful if you could find a way to clarify this.”